Ford F-Series Rough Idle/Vibration Problems

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I have a 2005 Lariat. Just bought it about a month ago and have been doing maintenance on the weekends and working on a rough idle problem. Finally solved it.

Things I did:1) Replaced the spark plugs with Champion 7989. They don't break in the engine.2) Gapped the plugs to .45 which is a little lower than recommended. 3) Replaced all the ignition coils (got 8 of them for about $120 on ebay)4) Changed Fuel Filter5) Used mass amounts of injector cleaner.

Despite all of this, it made very little difference.

6) Replaced the battery (believe it or not, this helped a lot. Bad batteries cause sensor problems due to low voltage)7) Cleaned the throttle body, PCV valve and Mass Airflow Sensor.This made the largest diffence...issue fixed.

Lesson learned, carbon and gunk builds up in these engines really, really bad. You won't believe the difference 1 hour of time, $2 dollar gasket and $3 bottle of carb cleaner makes. Should do it ever 30K-40K miles or so.

I have also heard changing the motor mounts helps but haven't had to do that.

I have a 2005 Lariat. Just bought it about a month ago and have been doing maintenance on the weekends and working on a rough idle problem. Finally solved it.

Things I did: 1) Replaced the spark plugs with Champion 7989. They don't break in the engine. 2) Gapped the plugs to .45 which is a little lower than recommended. 3) Replaced all the ignition coils (got 8 of them for about $120 on ebay) 4) Changed Fuel Filter 5) Used mass amounts of injector cleaner.

Despite all of this, it made very little difference.

6) Replaced the battery (believe it or not, this helped a lot. Bad batteries cause sensor problems due to low voltage) 7) Cleaned the throttle body, PCV valve and Mass Airflow Sensor. This made the largest diffence...issue fixed.

Lesson learned, carbon and gunk builds up in these engines really, really bad. You won't believe the difference 1 hour of time, $2 dollar gasket and $3 bottle of carb cleaner makes. Should do it ever 30K-40K miles or so.

I have also heard changing the motor mounts helps but haven't had to do that.

1st, vibration 12-1300 rpm to approximately 1800 rpm not in gear. My 2004 4.6 had the same problem. I now own a 2006 with a 5.4, still same problem. Unfortunately it appears to be a Triton engine concern, not limited to one version or the other. It does not bother me too much in gear and on the road. Is probably a design issue/vibration and most likely not repairable. All engines vibrate, some are designed to limit vibration in operation range. Many foreign manufactures use balance shafts to reduce or eliminate vibrations. American manufacturing does not and normally balance shafts. On a V6 or V8, it is normally not a concern as the engine is balanced either internally or externally/ Not sure what Ford engineers did, but the Triton does vibrate as stated in many concerns listed here.

2nd, road vibration in 2004-? I had my 2004 in the shop for a intermittent vibration numerous times and the dealer I bought the truck from in TX could not fix it. Vibration on uphill climbs and light loading. In 05/06?, I happened to be headed to IL for holiday and stopped by the dealer in my hometown. 30 minutes later, never had the road vibration again. Dealer successfully balanced all tires ON the truck. Appears the 04 F150 extended cab maybe others are/is more sensitive to tire vibrations and amplifies the problem. Find a good tire or Ford dealer to balance the tires on the vehicle.

3rd, Engine miss at idle or on acceleration, I agree, have the plugs coils and wires checked and perform all routine maintenance. Remember the fuel filter, too many times it is left unattended too long and takes out fuel pumps or injectors. Run an approved injector cleaner through your tank once in a while, check manufactures recommendation. But using a good fuel that has cleaners to begin with is best in my opinion. If your favorite gas station does not post or brag about cleaners, they most likely do not have the best fuel in town. Use quality and manufacturer approved fuels.

Ford has that mentality about this on "The number one selling truck in the world."You would think they will have gotten their game together by now.

I would suggest using all available communication. Tweeting usually works! Facebook should get their attention. Remember, Facebook has the worlds attention. By putting a post on it will definitely get their attention. Facebook has over 5,000,000 people listening.

The truck looks good, the heart of the beast has a problem. There are only four parts they have to research: Engine (with over 5k miles); torque converter; transmission; drive-shaft. Each of the parts should be assessed separately. Then as a whole.

They should value their customer base, if they want us to remain loyal.

So i just bought a 1990 Ford F150 that had a few issues. 1st issue. Truck sometimes has a flux in idle but works itself out after a few min. CEL is on but nothing seems to be really wrong with it. ANY IDEAS. i would scan it but its not free here...Someone said to replace the TPS. Not sure if i should......2nd issue this thing shifts fine if you ease into the throttle. but if you stomp on it.... the tranny sound like it slamming into the motor..????? any help is helpfull.

I had the same issues as stated, our truck is an '08 /5.4L with 99,800 miles. I replaced the spark plugs, serpentine belt, Oil with Valvoline 5w20 synthentic along with z-max and prolong additives ( I do this every oil change). Then I removed and cleaned the throttle body thoroughly. After re assembly and rerun, the vibration and rattle disappeared after 50 miles or so. However, I cannot get the truck to idle below ~ 1200 RPM = to 45 MPH unless it downshifts to first gear which will then allow an idle of 700 ~ 750 rpm. Using too much brake to slow down. Anyone else have this problem? I have removed battery power to enable the PCM to 'relearn' the idle speed / fuel curve but so far no different result. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket programmer for this application? (Note I have a '98 with a 4.6L with 298,000 miles and never had any of these problems)

Don't know if you still have the truck or the question but the lifter noise is the cam phaser which retards the cam at low idle to conserve fuel and the engine vibration at varying rpms is most likely caused by this also. A slight tick is normal at idle a knock is not so if it is knocking or ticking abnoxiously loud buy the timing chain wedge and change out both cam phasers. If you try to do it without the wedge you will drop the chain and have to retime the motor.

Yes, it is a characteristic of the truck. Ford designed that model to shake like that. I know because I bought one brand new. Long story short, it went to arbitration because it fell under the lemon law. Ford replaced everything on that truck. I met with the Ford field engineer who drove it then took me for a ride in a Lariat that did it too. He told me that it is a characteristic of these trucks and there is nothing they can do about it. He said Ford made the frame too stiff. What a bunch of BS. 6 months later I got all my money back, every penny and Ford took the truck back. Bought a Nissan. Love it.

I have a 07 Ford F150.. it does alot of vibrating when I slow down to stop. It shakes hard then quits on me. I have had it in a few times, they put it on a machine, the machine indicates nothing is wrong??? they just replaced cams today, thought that was the issue.. Ran the truck for awhile and it started again. Now I don't know what to do.... I was wondering if my intuition is right in thinking it has something to do with the Oil pressure?

When the truck is shaking, if I give press the accelerater it stops shaking???

I got 2007 f-150 and about 3 months ago or longer i had my truck in for the tranny jerking. the technition told me the tranny need a down load of some sort. so they did it, and it ran fine for a while, no it is doing something different, i will be driving down the highway and between 50 and 60 mph the motor will rev up about 5,000 rpm and then rev back down it will do that a few time and does it when i hit that speed. can anybody tell me what it might be.

well yes i can verify that that is a good question i can answer for you today i had the same problem with mine and its an 08n well what it turned out to be was with the transmission it had something to do with the computers and the torque converter was slipping on and off like it grabbing one second and the next it was up in the rpmss and then dropping back down so i would take it somewhere other than ford to have it tested or checked they once ripped my tranny apart and then saif it wasnt covered and put it in the back of the truck cause i wasnt paying them to rip my tranny apart and not diagnose what the problem was after it was dreivin there now i had to have it towed out of ford so stay far as away from a ford dealership as you can far far far far away b

I was having the same problem with the shaking. When it was occurring I pulled over and checked the rear wheels. I can't recal which one it was now, but I believe it was the right wheel, anyhow, it was extremely hot. That is when I realized that the brake was stuck. I immediately drove it to my Ford dealer and they told me they fixed it. I found out the next time I went to change my rear brakes that all they did was disconnect my emergency brake. I did some more research and found that to fix the emergency brake from locking up I needed to replace the emergency brake cable. I haven't done that yet. Anyhow, that is a thought for the shaking you are experiencing.

I just wanted to post a quick suggestion for you owners with that unknown vibration at take off... Mine also had the weird vibration... It was caused by the Air Intake Hose where it mounts to the drivers side quarter panel... It was just loose enough that it would only vibrate right at accelleration .. Just wedge something in there and solved the prob... But, it too has the infamous "diesel" sound.. Was told from dealer on day 1 that was just the way they sound.. 55,900 mi and about to do a plug change.. Wish me luck..

Most likely your Mass air flow sensor. Mine did this for about 4 months no one could tell me what it was not even ford. I changed that it ran perfect. Its simple to do just unplug take out 2 screws slide it out new in. Only takes couple of min to do.

timothy,I own a very well maintained 2005 f150. Had a similar vibration, almost like the transmission was failing. Vibration always happened when the truck was in a higher gear and while the excelerator was gradually being pressed, like when I was starting to climb a hill. Usually at speeds between 40-55mph. Turned out to be one bad ignition coil, and 5 different spark plugs where periodically missing. The mechanics drove the truck with their diagnostics hooked up to it and fiigured it out. The repair was done at the dealership, and the cost was under $300. Problem totally fixed.

You are right on the spot when you suspect oil pressure. I have a 2008 F150 with a 5.4L.I took my truck in for the third time for a vibration at Idle. The just installed a new engine for me. The problem had been it would never register a fault code. This time it did the put a manual oil pressure gauge on the engine and at idle the oil pressure jumped all over causing the computer over compensate. I would recommend using a manual oil pressure gauge. I think this is a known problem the dealer is a good dealer but they were very fast to offer a new engine This was all covered by the factory warranty of 60,000 mile power train I have 54,000 miles on my truck. I would check this out new 5.4L retail installed 6,000.00 comes with 3 year 36000 mile warranty. Maybe you could plead your case to the dealer if you bought it new

I have a 2004 F-150 with close to 138K, recently in 3/4 gear at 45-55 MPH when I barley step on the gas the engine hesitates and bucks, pretty rough sometimes. Once I give it a little bit more gas it clears up and runs fine. Ford can't find the problem or get it to duplicate which is very surprising as it happens all the time. Any thoughts to a Mass Air Flow sensor or possible Catalytic convertors are bad with that many miles? Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is very frustrating.

Mine was doing the same thing......it almost felt like a tranny problem.....it was actually the spark plugs.....Have you changed them? I have an 2004 f150 5.4 Gas....with 126xxx. Just got it back, and its runing like new.Hope this helps.

Hello i have an 08 f150 and have had the same problem you will be driving along and there will be aloud noise and shaking so you slow down and pull over and come almost to a stop and a loud clunk then go again it will be fine for a while or happen right away anyway i took it into the garage and the mecanic told me rite away after explaining what was going on he said its the 4*4 vacume box on your firewall ( pasanger side) little black box anyway he took that off and cleaned it and there was a crack on the back side and that was sucking air letting your 4 wheel drive kick in so he replaced it and seems all right now. hope this helps

Mine is the same and I had a brand new transimission installed , and U Joints replaced, tires rotated and I was told to try and replace the transmission sensor, and spark plugs. I haven't done either yet, if and when I do I will let you know if it works.